The Past That Shapes Our Future
by castlefan83
Summary: An alternate version of what Daryl did before the apocalypse and how it has shaped his life and affects his potential relationship with Beth. This will eventually turn into a Daryl/Beth paring and will have other characters. M Rating is for language and eventual smut.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Anything that has happened on the show so far or is in the comics is fair game. So please read at your own risk if you are worried about spoilers of any kind. While I think "Still" was a great episode I was still disappointed a little bit to find out that Daryl was just basically a nobody before the apocalypse. No significant other, no kids, no job…nothing. While Norman says the revelation of Daryl's past is so powerful I would like to try and put my own version into words. Therefore I give you this fanfic. I make no promises on updates and I don't even know how long this will be. However with that said I do have a plan and the way this season is panning out I'm gonna need something to get me through the summer. So here is my version of how I wanted things to go while they were talking on the porch of the moonshine house. Reviews are always appreciated whether good or bad._

_Disclaimer: In no way, shape or form do I own The Walking Dead or any of the characters. I am simply borrowing them for my own amusement._

* * *

"Wanna know what I did fore shit hit the fan?" said Daryl in a much calmer voice that he had used all day.

Beth sat calmly and smiled as she let the alcohol flow through her system. Giving him a little smile she said, "It would clear up the bets all of us kids have made on what you did before."

His eyes shot up to meet hers, "What are you kids doin' placing bets on my life."

"No, not on your life, just on what you did before," she said shaking her head like he was being ridiculous.

He shrugged his shoulders and decided to just get on with his story. Beth was drunk anyways and more than likely wouldn't remember much about what he was gonna say once the moonshine had a chance to leave her system. "Bout a year fore the world went south I did nothing, complete waste of space…"

"WAIT!" Beth yelled so loud that Daryl had to motion for her to shut up in order to avoid attracting more walkers. Beth flinched slightly and then in a quieter voice continued, "You mean to tell me that Lizzie won the bet? What the hell!"

"Well if someone would quit interrupting and let me finish the goddamn story they'd find out I was just gettin' started."

She quickly sat back and motioned for him to continue.

He shook his head, _Kids_, he thought to himself. Although Beth really was no longer a little kid anymore. In the time that he'd know her she'd grown up to be a young woman. He dismissed the thought and continued on with his story. He didn't really want to relive his life in the past, but he figured someone else should know who he was. "Had no job, no real desire to do anything. Merle and I would go out get drunk, get high, start fights, try and hit on women had no right hitting on." He paused to make sure Beth was still paying attention. She was looking at him shaking her head. "This is my story little girl you don't get to judge."

She held up her hands in surrender and once again let him continue.

"One night went out to this bar, had a few drinks, tried to find any women that would go home with us. We were getting ready to leave and this crowd of women came in. You could tell they were not regulars, dressed up all fancy, looking completely out of place. Sat down at a table. Merle started to walk over towards them and started hittin' on them. Didn't last very long, when he started walking back over towards me I could see he was pissed and they're watching him leave laughing their pretty little asses off. I happened to catch one of the women's eye as she laughed along with her friends. I was drunk enough that I thought we had a moment so as Merle was coming back to where we were I got up and walked over towards the women."

"Yeah I'm sure this is going to end well, " Beth murmured.

After a moment Daryl continued. "I don't remember much, but from what I'm told I was trying to get overly friendly with the girl."

"Wait what do you mean from what you're told? You were there," Beth said with a confused look on her face.

"Guess she had enough cause she decked me one good. Apparently I was out a good couple of hours. When I came to Merle wanted me to press charges against the stupid bitch, but I had enough sense knocked into me to know charges would never fly for a minute. Anyways by the time I came to the women were gone. I couldn't get her out of my head. No one had ever had enough balls to knock me on my ass yet here's this woman who didn't even think twice before putting me in my place. I went back the next week to see if by some off chance she'd show up again."

"So what you went back for more? And I'm sure you were really shocked when she wasn't there?" Beth said shaking her head.

"I was shocked…cause she was there….alone."

Beth's jaw visibly dropped at this revelation. "Wait, a woman has to deck you so you'll leave her alone and then she shows up the next week? She must not have been a very smart woman."

Daryl gave a little chuckle, "Her name was Dria and she was a doctor." He looked over to see that Beth was still in a state of shock over this information. He liked the fact that he could still surprise people. "She'd come back on the off chance I'd be there again. Spent the rest of the night talkin' 'bout anything and everything. " He looked up to see that Beth had one of those sappy love faces that women got when they thought something was romantic.

She noticed he had stopped, but she needed him to finish the story, "It's just like out of one of those romance movies. Please go on."

"Yeah well….I never told Merle anything about her…figured he'd go all bat shit crazy on me cause she was just another snobby bitch just slumming it for a while. Six months later when I moved out I was right about him going bat shit…." Daryl remembered that situation all too well just like it was yesterday.

_***Flashback***_

"_Still don't think you need to be here when I tell him Dria", Daryl said as they got out of her SUV and walked up to his home. "Merle's gonna be a real dick about this whole thing and he's not gonna sugar coat it."_

"_Daryl," she said grabbing his arm and pulling him to a stop. She placed a hand on his cheek, "It's going to be okay. We'll grab your things and then we'll go home okay?"_

_He leaned in a kissed her gently. "What would I do without you?"_

"_You'll never have to find out," Dria said as she grabbed his hand and they walked into the lion's den._

_Thirty minutes later they were walking out with the last box as Merle stood on the doorstep yelling after them, "You're leavin' your own blood for a whore! She's puttin' lies in your head and you're lettin' her. Amazing what a somewhat pretty face and a decent pair of tits can do."_

_Daryl tried to turn around but Dria stopped him, "Just ignore him. It's not worth it."_

_They got in the vehicle and left, but not before Merle had started throwing beer bottles and cursing up an even bigger storm._

_***End Flashback***_

"So tell me more," Beth said. "I like learning about a person's past. It shows how they were shaped into the person they are today."

"You always wanna see the good in people girl."

"It still exists, you just have to look a little harder these days to find it. Now you were saying?" Beth said to try and get him to start talking again.

"Month after the move found out she was knocked up. She was thrilled. I panicked. I came from a messed up family, didn't know how in the hell to raise a kid. But eventually came round knowing that we'd be raising it together and that if I fucked up she'd knock me upside the head," he said with a small smile on his lips. "Got myself a job working security at the local university. Needed to help provide for my family rather than sit around doin' nothing. She was round six or seven months when it happened."

Beth was clinging to every word as he got to the part of the story she had been waiting to hear.

He paused for a moment and then continued on, "The day things went down I was at work. People just started running around like crazy screaming about how this person had just bitten them. I lost two of my guys in the first ten minutes of the craziness. After 'bout five more minutes I said to hell with it and ran for my bike. I ran into a couple of people covered in blood and the bastards tried to bite me. Tried to push 'em out of the way, but they just kept on coming. I finally just took out my gun and shot them in the arm. It was like it didn't even faze them. So I went for the chest next. Still nothin'. Finally I put a bullet between their eyes and that seemed to stop 'em in their tracks."

Beth was memorized. She was sure that no one had ever heard Daryl talk so much about his life before all of this. She didn't necessarily like where the story was going, but she continued to listen.

"I started to head for the hospital, but then remembered that she'd had the day off, so I turned back around and headed for the house." He stopped talking as he relived the moment he got home…..

_***Flashback***_

_He could see bodies scattered all around the neighborhood. Many were getting back up. People were running around screaming, packing items into vehicles and attempting to flee. As he pulled into their driveway it drew the attention of some of the people shuffling around and they started to head in his direction. Getting off his bike he was surprised to see Merle running out the front door._

"_Where's Dria?" Daryl yelled. He tried to run past his brother, but Merle grabbed him and wouldn't let him pass._

"_You don't wanna go in there little brother. You don't need to see that," Merle said calmly._

"_What the fuck you mean I don't want to go in there? That's my girl in there!"_

"_Not anymore," Merle said pushing Daryl towards the car he had waiting. "Gotta go little brother," he said shoving Daryl in the vehicle and then getting in himself just seconds before people started throwing themselves against the vehicle_

_***End of Flashback***_

"So what happened next?" Beth asked, knowing what the answer was but thinking that he'd come this far he just needed to get it out there.

Shaking himself from his memories he shrugged, "Merle caught me outside our house, she was dead."

* * *

A/N: I need thoughts…is this complete crap or should I just continue and let's see what happens? Let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: So I've had this chapter partially finished on my computer for weeks, but I finally just sat down and finished this chapter tonight. I felt like I had to get something out there. This story is going to start going the way of AU. There will be no burning down houses cause I keep seeing Smokey the Bear shaking his finger at Daryl and Beth going "You were supposed to prevent them not start them?"_

_Disclaimer: As always I don't own any of it. Just borrowing them._

* * *

Beth was motionless. She knew her face showed the utter shock of his past. Looking over at him she noticed that he was closing himself off to the pain his story had caused. "There was nothing you could have done….."

"I could've saved her!" He yelled at Beth not caring what kind of attention he drew, " I could've saved them both….."

Beth always knew that there was more to Daryl, but what he'd revealed was more than she could have ever have imagined. She got up from where she sat and after taking a moment to steady herself. The alcohol in her system finally starting to really wreak havoc on her system she stumbled over to Daryl and placed herself in his lap. He didn't even have time to react before she placed her hands on his face and looked straight into his eyes. "It was not your fault Daryl Dixon. You are a good man and don't you ever let anyone else tell you differently. Understood?"

He looked into her eyes and simply nodded.

"Good" she said trying to get up so quickly she started to fall backwards and flail her arms. He was up automatically and grabbed her around the waist before she could fall.

"Woah there girl. I'm amazed you're still standing. I figured a few swigs of shine and you'd be out cold.

"Yeah well maybe it's just cause I'm that good," she said as he started to direct her inside.

"Yeah well you ain't gonna be feeling that good in the morning." He said placing her in the chair.

She was fading fast. The moonshine was hitting her in full force now and she kind of wished that she had paced herself. There was no place for her to go in this world if she got alcohol poisoning. Looking up Daryl as she started to close her eyes, "See Mr. Dixon….you are the last man standing."

He stared down at her face with a look of fear. He refused to be the last man standing. He refused to be alone. In that moment he realized that this girl was all he had left and he would protect her at any cost.

-B/D-

Beth didn't want to move. She could hear Daryl moving around the room, but she was hoping that if she pretended to still be asleep he'd just let her sleep this one off. Everything hurt. She was fairly confident that sometime during the night she had thrown up the contents of her stomach over the side of the chair. Movement at this point might not be the best course of action.

"Girl we need to get going'" he said giving her shoulder a nudge. He didn't want to wake her, she looked so peaceful when she slept. More than a couple times in the night he caught himself looking over at her wondering "How?" How could the world do this to someone as pure and innocent as this girl? How could so much be taken from her and yet she still has hope that there are still good people out there? She caused him to question things he thought he knew with certainty. She stirred feelings in him that he'd buried deep. Feelings that he didn't want to admit. But his biggest question was how in the world has she survived this long? He knew the answer to that though…she had been sheltered. At Hershel's farm they had sheltered her especially with her suicidal tendencies. At the prison she'd always been helping with Lil' Asskicker or been helping with chores. She'd never been allowed to go on runs, take care of fence duty. She'd never actually been allowed to go outside the gates. He'd decided that she needed to learn how to survive on her own. Not that he was planning on leaving, but if anything were to happen he wanted her to have a fighting chance in this fucked up world. She seemed to handle herself pretty well with the walkers in the forest and the country club. For someone who really was never allowed around walkers she showed real promise.

Beth stirred in the chair, "Just five more minutes….."

"Sorry girl. We're burning daylight. We've gotta get moving. Maybe find a few things along the way. It's gonna start to get colder one of these days….need to find a few more clothes. Maybe if we're lucky find you some aspirin for your situation," he said with a small chuckle knowing that by the time they found something it would be too late for it to help her current situation.

She struggled to get in a sitting position, "Don't start with me…..ohhh….." grabbing her head and laying back down. "Hey Daryl…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever let me drink again…..okay…."

"You keep on saying you're not a kid….I can't make decisions like that for you."

"I hate you," she said reaching a hand out for help.

He reached down and grabbed her hand to help her up, "No you don't." smiling as he brought her to her feet.

She was still a little wobbly, but he placed his hands on her hips to try and help her stay upright. Once she was still she looked up at him with eyes that could bring any man to his knees. Daryl was captivated for a moment before he let go of her and took a step back. _'Don't go there Dixon'_ his subconscious said to him. He continued his backward retreat, grabbing his bow, until he walked out the door mumbling something about meeting her outside in a few, leaving Beth more than a little confused about what in the world just happened. She started to sway back and forth. The room wouldn't stop spinning. She stumbled over to the door frame and leaned heavily against it for support. She looked out in the yard to see Daryl waiting for her. _Oh this is going to suck_, she thought as she started to walk down the stairs towards him.

* * *

_A/N: This is short I know, and it's kind of a filler chapter. Not much happened. I am going to start updating more frequently. My goal is for weekly…we'll have to see how things go._


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Wow, so I meant to have this up weeks ago, but life had other plans. But here you go… the next chapter._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor shall I ever own TWD. It's unfortunate, I know._

* * *

"Here you take it."

Beth looked over at Daryl to see him handing over his crossbow to her. He never let anyone touch his crossbow and here he was just handing it over to her like it was nothing.

He tried not to laugh at the weariness he saw flash across her face. "It's heavy and you should get used to the weight or else you'll never be able to use it," he said offering it to her again.

She slowly took it from his outstretched hand and damn near dropped the thing. He reached out to help her support it and then backed off when she had both hands on it. He wasn't kidding around when he said it had some weight to it, but it wasn't anything she couldn't manage, it just took her by surprise. "So why are you teaching me to use this," she asked. "I've gotten pretty good with my knife the last few weeks."

"You should know how to use as many weapons as possible these days. You never know what you're gonna have at your disposal."

"But when am I going to need a crossbow? That's what you use." She regretted that statement as soon as it left her lips. She didn't want him to answer that question, but she knew he was going to.

"If something were to happen to me you'd need to know how to use it."

"Nothing's going to happen to you. You'll be…" she turned toward him, but he cut off the rest of her sentence placing his finger over her lips.

"Don't say it."

She shook her head in agreement and he removed his finger and they continued their lesson.

-D/B-

Stupid traps he thought to himself as he carried Beth across the graveyard towards the funeral home. Or at least what he thought was a funeral home. That one had been placed there recently. If it had been out here for an extended period of time there would have been more rust and wouldn't have closed so smoothly. He needed to get her somewhere and take a look at her ankle. He didn't think it was more than sprained. Thankfully she'd had her boots on. If she'd been wearing sneakers they would have had a lot bigger problem.

As they passed a grave stone Beth shifted and hopped off his back. He turned to see why and that's when he saw the stone….he looked over at Beth and then glanced around until he saw a few flowers growing nearby. He quickly picked them and then walked over and placed them on the stone and walked back to stand next to Beth. He felt her grab his hand and intertwine her fingers with his. It was comforting. He didn't have the heart to release his hand from her grasp, nor did he want to.

-D/B-

Daryl hopped in one of the coffins and settled in for as decent a night sleep as you could get in one of those things.

Beth stopped playing and turned towards him, "You're sleeping in one of those?"

"Best bed I've had in months," he said looking at her, "Who told ya to stop playing girl?"

She smiled as she turned around and continued to play. She knew she needed to stop soon. The noise was bound to attract attention if it went on for too long.

Daryl looked at her as she played and he remembered life back before the turn. She reminded him a lot of Dria. Her determination to learn new things, to keep on trying, to never say never. Beth had come a long way in the time they'd been together since the fall of the prison. Her bow work left something to be desired, but in the last few weeks she really had come a long way with the knife. She even had taught herself with a little help from him how to throw knives. He was a little skeptical at first about how effective that would be when it came to killing walkers, but she had him throwing all his doubts out the window when after a few failed tries she started throwing with scary accuracy. Plus he reminded himself that it wasn't just walkers that a person had to worry about these days. Throwing a knife could turn out to be a very useful skill to have if one had to defend themselves against other people. He'd made a mental note not to piss her off, and if he did to make sure there were no knives in the room. Lost in his thoughts he'd realized that she'd stopped playing. He looked over to see her coming back into the room with a pillow and blanket. "Why'd ya stop?"

"Draws too much attention. Besides probably should get some sleep while I can," she said as she laid the pillow and blanket down close to the coffin that Daryl occupying.

"What are you doing," he asked looking at her.

"Going to sleep."

She could have gone upstairs and slept in a real bed, but he had to admit he like this better. Down here she would be close and he could take care of her if anything happened. His mind started to have an internal battle with itself before he finally spoke up, "We could share. Ya know if ya want."

She looked over at him with a look in her eyes that he could not fully understand. " It's okay I'm fine on the floor." She said as she laid down and tried to go to sleep.

Daryl took a moment before he got up out of the coffin and lay down next to Beth.

"What are you doing?" she asked rolling over on her side to face him.

"Box wasn't that comfortable," he said shutting his eyes.

Beth smiled. She had caught glimpses of Daryl these last weeks that no one ever got the chance to see. She had thought back to who he was before the turn. It was sad about what had happened to the woman he lived with. He would have made an amazing father. It had opened her eyes to why he was always so protective of the family they had at the prison, especially the original group from Atlanta and the farm. It was almost like he was trying to make up for the fact that he thought he failed the family he had before. She had gotten pretty good a reading him and she wasn't quite sure if he had realized that or not. She moved closer to him until she was right up against him and laid her head on his shoulder and put her arm over his chest. He tensed for just a moment before relaxing. "You're not a very good liar Daryl Dixon, but thank you."

-D/B-

They were sitting around the table eating some of food that Daryl had set out.

"So I was thinking that maybe we could stay here for a while," Daryl said causing Beth to look over at him confused.

"But I thought you said someone probably lives here and it's best we move on before they come back?"

"Yeah well….."

"Well what changed your mind?" she asked looking into his eyes.

He returned the look and gave a non-committal shrug, 'I dunno…."

"Oh come on! That's not an answer. What changed your mind?"

He looked down for a moment and then he looked over at her hoping she would take the hint in his eyes. He knew she probably would. Seemed like any more she was able to tell what he was thinking sometimes before he even did.

"Oh…." She said with a little blush as she broke eye contact and looked down at her hands.

-D/B-

"I'm not leaving you," she yelled at him why he was trying to put pressure on the door.

"Go!" he screamed at her. "Run towards the road and I'll catch up to you."

Her heart broke as she looked over at him. The desperation she saw in his face made her realize just how much he cared. As much as she wanted to stay when he got set in his ways there was no changing his mind. Plus, she wanted him to make it out safe and she figured he viewed her as a distraction. For a brief moment she toyed with the idea of giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, but she figured she'd save that for another time when they weren't in immediate danger. She threw him the crossbow and ran towards the back of the house, grabbing her bag as she made sure the coast was clear and then ran out the back door.

Daryl held onto the door for a few moments to try and give Beth a few precious seconds to escape out the back. He was trying to figure out how he was going to get them out of this mess. He should have known this home was just too good to be true. A freaking trap is what it came down to and from now on he was going to trust his instinct when he didn't thinking something felt right. He was losing the fight of holding the door so he quickly decided that he was going to lure them downstairs and in such a small area it should be relatively easy to pick them off one by one. Of course in such a confined area there was also a greater risk of getting bit, but he was willing to take the risk if it got him out of this house and to Beth. For all he knew she was the last of his family. She was everything and he couldn't afford to lose her in this world. He had dealt with losing someone he'd loved too many times before and he wasn't sure if he could deal with it again.

-D/B-

Daryl ran out of the home after barely escaping the walkers inside. He dodged a few of the walkers who were roaming around the yard and ran towards the road. He noticed something on the ground and ran towards it. His heart stopped as he bent down and picked up Beth's bag. Just then he heard the sound of a car speeding off down the road.

"Beth!" he yelled as he started to run after the car. "Beth!"

He ran for what seemed like hours. Dripping in sweat and about ready to fall over he'd reached a set of tracks. There were a couple of different ways the car could have gone, but he had no clue. He had lost sight of the vehicle long ago. He was hoping that the road would just keep going one direction and he would eventually catch up with her kidnapper. He let his bow fall to the ground and collapsed in the middle of the road hanging his head down in defeat. She was gone. His biggest fear had happened. He was alone. This wasn't how things were supposed to work out. They should be back at the home getting ready to go practice hunting and then eventually turning in for the night. Setting their blankets side by side and trying to maybe figure out these weird feeling he was having. He was hoping that he hadn't been the only one who was struggling with whatever it was going on between them. He wanted to just shut down like he had for a few months after he had lost Dria and the baby. He had the same pain in his chest that he'd had so many months ago and he didn't see it going away anytime soon. After a few moments though he finally realized the difference between the two situations. It had been too late to help Dria, but for all he knew Beth was just gone not dead. One thing he had learned from Beth was to hope. So he was going to hope that she was still alive, and he was going to hope that he ran across whoever took her, and he was going to get her back if it was the last thing he did.

While he was lost in his thoughts though he didn't hear the approaching footsteps until it was too late. "Well looky what we have here boys."

* * *

_A/N: So there we go. Pretty much the same route as the show, but was hoping to throw a bit of internal monologue in there so we could maybe get a glimpse of what was going through their heads during this time. Next chapter will focus on Beth and what exactly happened to her. The next chapter is also over half done so hopefully you won't have to wait too long. Thanks so much for your patience with me._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: This chapter focuses on Beth and what happened to her. _

_Disclaimer: I do not own it. I'm just borrowing them to help me survive until October._

* * *

Beth woke up with a splitting headache. She opened her eyes and tried to take in her surroundings, but it was just too dark to really see anything. The most she could tell as she sat on the side of the bed is the door was right in front of her cause she could see the light from the hall underneath. The last thing she remembered was someone putting something over her nose and mouth and then everything went hazy. She was unsure of how long she had been here, but her only thoughts were if Daryl had made it out of the funeral home alive.

There was a commotion in another part of the building. Beth wanted to hide in the corner, but she also wanted to know what was going on, so she got off the bed and went and sat down next to the door and put her ear to it and tried her best to listen. There were voices and they started to get closer until it seemed like they were right outside the door.

"Mark," a man's voice yelled, "You'll never guess what I did last night."

"What," another man's voice chimed in from a different direction.

"I saved some pretty little blond thing from a crazy old guy with a crossbow."

_Oh, shit_, Beth thought to herself.

"You did what?!"

"Yeah, place was being overrun with walkers and she was just running around the road like a freaking damsel in distress."

"Does Alex know you did this?"

The question was met with silence.

"You mean to tell me that you took someone we don't know, brought them into our community, our home, and did this without saying a thing to Alex?

"Uhh…..yeah."

"Nice knowing you then…..Alex is going to be pissed."

"Oh please Alex needs to get over her shit, she thinks she fucking runs this place. We could take her out and have the place to ourselves without all of her we're a family, we protect our own shit."

"Is this how you really feel Derek?" Another voice came from out of nowhere.

Beth didn't know if she liked where this conversation was going, but she had to find out more about what was going on. Apparently there was some conflict as to her being taken, so she took that as a good sign that she might make it out of this thing alive and hopefully in one piece.

"Adam," the man named Derek said with a weary voice. Beth could tell that there was a good chance the shit was about to hit the fan. "What's up man?"

"I hear you've been a dumbass. Is this true?"

Beth could hear more footsteps coming down the hall. She didn't know whether to be terrified or grateful. She was going to go with slightly terrified until further notice.

"Dunno what you're talking 'bout man."

"I hear you kidnapped a young girl last night and brought her here. What the hell were you thinking? Or were you thinking? Alex has specific rules about outsiders. You know this."

"Oh come on, she's one girl. No harm done. The old guy she was with probably didn't even make it out alive," Derek said.

There was a pause, "Wait, she was with someone when you took her? What the hell man? You ever think that maybe him or any others she was with might be looking for her? The last thing we need is a group looking for vengeance."

"I'm sorry man, I didn't think," the man named Derek started to say in a frantic voice.

"You're right….you didn't think," the man named Adam said calmly. "Take him boys. I'm gonna go try and talk to the girl he took.

_Shit!_ Beth thought as she scrambled away from the door and back to the bed. She sat down just as the door opened. The light flooded in thru the hall way and the man walked in leaving the door open.

"Hello there ma'am. My name is Adam." He started to walk towards Beth and she flinched backwards. "Woah there now," he said throwing his arms in the air. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just gonna go over here and open the window to let some light in so we're not sitting in the dark."

After a moment Beth nodded her head and he proceeded to walk over to a window and open the drapes to let in the sunlight. From what Beth could tell it was probably early morning. Adam walked back over towards the door and grabbed a chair and sat down.

"I'm very sorry about what our man did to you last night. If you could give me some information on who you are and who you were with maybe we could see about getting you back to this person," he said in a calm voice.

Beth thought about what or rather how much she should tell him. She really didn't know this man at all, but she did need help getting back to Daryl. She wasn't going to believe for a second that he'd never made it out of the house…..well until she was told differently that is what she was going to believe. "My name is Beth," she said and started to tell her tale. She left out the part about the prison and everyone else, and didn't tell them Daryl's name. Just a tale about the man she was with and what had happened until she was taken.'

Adam waited patiently for her to finish her story and once she was done he seemed to take it all in before getting up and heading for the door.

"Wait where are you going?" Beth asked as she started to slightly panic that everything might not be working out in her favor.

"Don't worry. I'm gonna go talk to Alex about some things and I'll come get you a bit later. Someone will be in shortly with some food. You will not be harmed while you are here, okay?"

Beth was still skeptical, but she wasn't really in a position to argue at this point so she just nodded in agreement as he walked out the door shutting it behind him.

-D/B-

What seemed like hours later cause the sun was starting to go down Beth was taken across the compound to a nice size house. It looked like any old house. Even had freshly planted flowers in front. The man Adam motioned for her to head on into the house. He had actually treated her with respect and she could tell that he was different than the idiot who took her from Daryl.

"Alex is expecting you. It will just be the two of you. Don't try anything funny. She had me clear the house of everyone else. No offense, but we don't really know you. With the apparent exception of a few we don't like to take chances with our family."

"I understand," Beth said nodding her head.

"Once you go in she'll meet you at the top of the stairs. I'll be right out here to escort you back once she's done with you."

Beth nodded her head and then proceeded to walk into the house. Upon entering she looked up to see a woman who looked like she didn't belong in the apocalypse. Her hair was in braided pigtails and she was wearing a long sweater with leggings and some very stylish boots that Beth was frankly jealous of at the moment.

"Hello there, you must be Beth. My name is Alex." the woman said as she motioned for Beth to come up the stairs.

"Yes."

"Well Beth, I'd first like to apologize for the unfortunate circumstances that have brought us together. Let me assure you that the person responsible has been dealt with accordingly."

_Oh shit_, Beth thought as her eyes widened in fear.

Alex sensed her discomfort, "We didn't kill him if that's what you're thinking."

Beth let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

"He has been exiled and will never be allowed back into this compound," if he does try to return he will be punished." Sensing that Beth could use a bit more information Alex continued, "You see we are not evil here. We all consider ourselves family and will die trying to protect it. We for the most part welcome new people to stay briefly, to build their strength back up before heading on their way. Of course we usually do keep them separate from everyone else. However, the man that took you was stupid and didn't really give thought to the fact that you were with others and that those others may come looking for you. That presents a problem for my family and I. We don't want people coming here for vengeance."

"Would it be possible for you to take me back to the house where he took me from? Maybe who I was with is still there?" Beth asked with a hopeful look on her face.

Alex sighed, "Adam and I went back to where Derek said he took you from. There were a few walkers but there was no one there. He said you were with an older man and that the man tried to run after the vehicle. It's very possible that once he got to the tracks he took the wrong road. I'm very sorry."

Beth looked defeated. But at least she hung onto the knowledge that Daryl was still alive somewhere and maybe looking for her.

"You are welcome to stay here," Alex said. "We disrupted your life, it's the least we can do. Please do know that at least until we get to know you a little better you will have a guard keeping an eye on you. I'm sure you are a perfectly nice girl, but truthfully we don't know you and we have to think about the safety of the kids."

Beth's head popped up at the mention of kids, "Have you had anyone show up with a little girl by the name of Judith?"

Alex shook her head, "I'm sorry we haven't."

Beth was disappointed, but hopeful. She looked at Alex and asked a question that she wasn't sure she would get an answer to, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but you don't look like you belong in the apocalypse."

The other woman lifted her lips in a small sad smile, "No one belongs here, but it's where we ended up."

"How did you end up here?"

"Lexi, Jessie, and myself, and a few others kind of floated from place to place. We made some friends. Some of the men and women here have been with me since Lexi and Jessie were born. Adam whom you've met has been with me since damn near the beginning. Probably wasn't the smartest decision to trust a complete stranger, but in my position I couldn't be picky. Anyways we found this place a while back and decided this would be a good place to set up camp"

"Wait who are Lexi and Jessie?" Beth asked.

"My twin baby girls, they'll be two in a few months here I think. Who really knows time anymore. Once you've been here a little bit we can let you visit the children. From the twinkle in your eye I can see that maternal instinct."

Beth smiled, "I helped raise Judith. Her mother died giving birth and her dad kind of lost it for a while."

"We live in an unforgiving world. All we can do is try to survive. Protecting family until our last breath."

She may have been taken against her will, but Beth really did like Alex. She couldn't fault her for the mistakes of others. "Well I look forward to meeting the girls when you do deem me trustworthy enough."

Alex smiled at Beth, "Let's go find you something to eat and a place to sleep. In the morning we'll visit on how I might be able to help you find who you've lost."

* * *

_A/N: So there we go. Next chapter we will catch up with Daryl after he has been reunited with Rick. Please if you have the time leave me a review and let me know what you think of the story so far._


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: A lot is going to happen in this chapter. Enjoy._

_Disclaimer: The Walking Dead and all of its characters do not belong to me. I just borrow them for my own enjoyment and to pass the time until they finally give me a new episode._

* * *

Daryl continued to let his crossbow hang at his side as he stared down at the ground. Letting his shoulders sag as he let out the breath he had been holding in for what seemed like days. After a moment he looked up and saw Rick sitting back against the vehicle. He never thought he'd see any of them again and here were Rick, Carl, and Michonne. "_Damnit"_…he thought….."_she was right_." Beth had always said that they weren't the only survivors that everyone was still out there. She'd been so set on that belief until that day at the cabin. When he blew up at her, telling her she wasn't going to see any of them ever again. That was the last time she ever said anything about it, and though he was pretty sure she still had hope, he felt bad that she couldn't say it out loud anymore. He walked over to the vehicle and sat next to Rick.

"I didn't know," he said looking at Rick's blood caked face. "I didn't know they were this bad. If I would have known…."

Rick stopped him, "You're here now, that's the important thing. How did you end up with them?"

Daryl didn't want to talk about her. It was too painful. The absence. The constant reminder that he'd failed her. He was supposed to keep her safe. Since he'd left the prison with her he'd been determined to keep her safe. But after the moonshine cabin his sole purpose in life had been to keep her safe. She had been his everything and she didn't even know it. But he figured that Rick had a right to know. "I was with Beth for a while."

"Is she dead?" Rick asked hesitantly. He could see emotion run across his brother's face as he spoke her name. Could tell that there was pain and sadness there that was hardly ever seen on the hunter's face.

"She's just gone," Daryl spoke so softly that Rick for a moment didn't even think he'd spoken the words.

Rick nodded, "Well you're here with us now and that is everything."

Daryl looked over at the man he considered a brother. "But she's gone…first Dria…now Beth."

Rick perked up at the mention of a new name, "Who's Dria?"

"The woman I lived with before the turn."

This was news to Rick. As far as he knew Daryl had never really been open about his life before everything happened. He did give pause though to the fact that he grouped Beth in the same category as the woman he lived with before everything. Which made Rick think that there had been more going on between Beth and Daryl. He tucked that bit of knowledge away for another time thought because he sensed that now was not the time to talk about Beth.

Rick looked over at Daryl, "We saw some signs for a place called Terminus. Thought we'd head there…see if anyone else had the same idea."

Daryl looked at him, "I remember hearing something about a place called Terminus on the radio while we were on that run to the veterinary college."

"What did it say?" Rick asked.

"Dunno, we ran into a fucking mega herd and the mission kind of went south at that point."

"Well I think we should try. Others could have headed there," Rick said in a somewhat hopeful voice.

"It could be a trap." Daryl said leaning his head back against the vehicle. "Everything's always a fucking trap."

"We'll be careful. Try to sneak in a back way or something and scope things out before we make ourselves known."

Daryl looked over a Rick. They'd been through enough together that he'd follow Rick and the rest of them anywhere. Maybe if they could find more of the prison group that would be more people to help look for Beth. "Why the hell not? What's the worst that could happen?"

-D/B-

Beth walked across the yard towards the swing set that was set up for the kids. Alex was there with the girls. Beth over the last few weeks had really grown to like Alex. The girls were absolutely precious and reminded her so much of Judith. She'd always thought one day if things ever got somewhat back to normal she might find someone to settle down with and have a few, but with the luck she'd been having lately she wasn't too fond of the idea of bringing a new life into the world just to possibly have it ripped from her the next minute. "Hey there guys….." she said walking up.

Both girls immediately stopped babbling to each other and screamed "Beth!"

"Girls," Alex whispered, "I know you're excited to see Beth, but remember we have to use our indoor voices. The girls both nodded at her and looked back over at Beth. They both motioned for Alex to get them out of the swings and one by one they ran over to Beth.

"Are you going to tell us another story today? Are you? Are you?" the girls whispered as they were hugging her tight. Beth gave them both a smile. She had been telling them stories about the man known as 'The Hunter' with his mighty crossbow saving princesses from creatures in the forest. And due to their age the creatures were icky slimy snails and big fuzzy bears. She smiled at the thought of Daryl saving princesses from slimy snails and fuzzy bears. Alex had once asked her if the stories were based on someone Beth had been with before she met the group she was with now. Beth never could actually truly talk to anyone about Daryl because it brought too many memories and feelings that she didn't know if she was ready to deal with yet. She simply nodded and Alex left it at that.

"Well I think it's about time for your morning nap," Beth said as the girls collectively whined while Alex was nodding her head in agreement. "But if you go quickly I'll be there in just a few to tell you a quick one before you sleep."

The girls started running off towards the main house as quietly and as quickly as their little legs could take them. Alex started to follow after them. "You spoil them with all these stories," Alex said with a smile as she walked past Beth who smiled and walked over to the front gates to check in on things before she headed to the main house.

-D/B-

Alex had just tucked the girls in and was shutting the door to their room. Upon getting into bed they had both fallen asleep so story time would have to wait. The sound of gunfire and tires screeching from the front gates had Alex running out of the main house towards the gates to see what was going on and she caught a glimpse of someone throwing Beth into the back of a car and driving off. "What the hell happened?" She yelled at Adam.

Adam looked up from the mound on the ground and looked Alex in the eyes, "You're not going to fucking believe this."

Alex looked down to see that the heap was Derek, the asshole who'd taken Beth originally. "Shit".

-D/B-

After a very short interrogation that ended with the death of Derek, Alex and the few others they could spare made the trek over to the place called Terminus. They had heard stories from a few people who had passed though the place before. Or a better way to put it would be the few who had barely escaped with their lives. They told stories that the place had promised sanctuary, but in reality it was a community that didn't take kindly to outsiders. Especially people who potentially posed a threat. They were also if the rumors happened to be true, cannibals. Alex had only had one run in with their leader back about nine months ago. Both groups recognized that losses would be significant if they fought so they made a somewhat truce. Promises had been made to not harm any members of either community, but Alex didn't trust the leader Gareth. She could see deception in his eyes. Therefore they were always on the lookout for people from Terminus. There had been a few at the beginning scouting their home, but they made sure to send them back to Gareth with a message. Usually Adam gave the message to be delivered. Gareth finally got the hint after a couple times.

They were about five miles from Terminus she guessed when they noticed a couple up in the road ahead. As they got closer the couple turned around at the noise and Alex noticed that they had a small child with them. She made Adam stop the vehicle and she got out and walked towards the couple. She didn't see them pull any weapons so she figured they'd try to talk to them. "Hello there."

"Hello," the man said.

"Where are you guys headed today?" Alex asked if only for the fact that she was concerned about the child they had with them.

"We saw some signs about a place called Terminus," the man said. "Promised sanctuary. I know that sometimes things are really too good to be true, but with the little one here we really don't have an option."

"Don't go to Terminus. If you're not prepared you'll never make it out of there alive. The only reason we're going there is to take back a member of our group that they took from us."

"Thanks for the advice." The man looked over at the woman "Names Tyrese, this is Carol, and the little one is Judith."

The name Judith threw up a big red flag for Alex. "You said the little one is Judith?" The man nodded. "You're a friend of Beth Greene then?" She saw all she needed to know in their expressions. They needed to get going, but Alex felt a quick explanation was in order. "Beth is who we are on our way to get. We'd like you three to go back to our compound. It is safe there for the time being, but we'll have to see what happens after Terminus."

She saw the hesitation in both their eyes and tried to quickly reassure them. "We can walk the rest of the way while our vehicle takes you back. It's not safe out here with the little one. We have others there that are keeping an eye on everyone else including my own children. I would not have left them there if I did not think it was safe."

"Tyrese, you're injured. Take Judith back to their compound. I'm going with them to Terminus," Carol said.

"But….." Tyrese started to say.

"It's possible that some of the others ended up at Terminus. You're in no condition to put up much of a fight with your arm. If they're there I need to be there to make sure they get out alive. If anything I need to go help get Beth. She's one of us also." Carol said in a manner of fact.

Tyrese nodded and the two quickly hugged before he took Judith and walked toward the vehicle.

Carol turned to Alex, "Do you have a plan?"

Alex looked at her, "We need the element of surprise. We need to somehow get in and make it look like it's only me there. We have a general idea of where they are keeping Beth from one of the people who helped take her from our home. I do know that they keep snipers on the rooftops. We need to get rid of those people first and without drawing any attention. We take out the snipers we might have a fighting chance of getting out of there alive. Those are the only people who can really shoot in that place. I figure now that we're on foot we've got a few hours before we get there to figure out the rest of the details."

"Well let's get going then ladies, we don't have all fucking day," Adam said as he threw the duffle he'd gotten out of the trunk over his shoulder and started to walk in the direction of Terminus with the rest of them following.

-D/B-

'_It was a fucking trap'_ Daryl thought to himself as he leaned against the side of the boxcar. Daryl was ready to be done with this place. He was gonna go find Beth. He knew she was out there somewhere alive, just waiting for him to find her. He wasn't gonna fail her again. They had been locked up in this goddamn boxcar for almost two days, which was two days too much, and he'd had enough. They wanted to get together a plan of escape, but they needed to do some recon first, which was made more difficult by the fact that they were locked up in a box. By the end of the second day they had just decided to screw recon and they were getting the hell out of there. They had begun to hear screams in the buildings. At first there were only a few, but as the day wore on they became more constant. They knew then that they couldn't wait and were just waiting for the right moment which hopefully came very soon.

Just then another commotion caused everyone in the boxcar to become alert. There were several footsteps and they could hear the sounds of several guns outside of the boxcar.

"Well I'll be….." they heard Gareth say. "Alex, how are you this wonderful afternoon?"

They were all trying to look through the cracks to see what was going on.

"Cut the crap Gareth….I know you took Beth…now where the hell is she?"

Two things happened in that train car after the person named Alex spoke. The prison group all perked up at the mention of a Beth. And Daryl went ashen. So much so that Rick walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay brother?" he asked Daryl. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Daryl fell back against the side of the boxcar "I know that voice."

* * *

_A/N: So hi there! It takes me over a month to update and then I leave it like this. I'm terrible I know. Lots happened in this chapter. Gosh I hope things sort themselves out. We had a lot of Alex in this chapter, but we are building up to the Bethyl goodness. Leave me a review and let me know what you think. _


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: So yeah….I felt bad about leaving things how I did…this chapter has been sitting on my computer for a while now. I had a lot of self-doubt about whether or not I was doing this story justice, but tonight I finally just said to heck with it and finished it up and posted it._

_Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. If I did there would already be Bethyl and things would not have gone down like that in the Season 4 Mid-Season finale._

* * *

Carol and Adam ran towards the ladders that led to the rooftops. From what they could gather there were supposed to be two snipers on duty. The plan was to take them both out and then go find Beth. From there they would hit the armory and then go back to help out Alex. They knew there wasn't much time so in record time they had made it up the ladder. Adam snuck up behind the first man and before the man could turn around Adam had reached up and snapped his neck. It all happened so quick that Carol wasn't even for sure what had happened. Adam quickly moved onto the next rooftop and motioned for Carol to take care of things. Quickly she took out her knife and stabbed the dead man in the head. She grabbed the gun and went after Adam.

There had actually been four snipers on duty that night which made them very uneasy. It meant that some if not all of the information Derek had given Alex and Adam was false. Or else the people here made last minute changes for some reason. They only hoped that Beth was going to be where they were told or else their plan will have officially gone straight to hell. Running in between buildings until they came to the main one had been a challenge. There were people everywhere, but they had managed to sneak in a side door. She was supposed to be on the third floor, second door from the right. Once they made it up there they noticed that there was a guard outside the door so they were pretty confident that Beth was more than likely in the room. Creating a quick diversion they were able to distract the guard long enough to take him out and try the door. It wasn't even locked. They walked in very carefully with Adam going in first, "Beth?" he whispered.

"Oh my god! Adam!" Beth whispered as the flung herself at Adam wrapping him in a quick hug. Until she noticed who was behind him. "Carol?" Beth said as a smile came across her face and she let go of Adam to give the woman a hug. I'm so glad you're alright."

Carol smiled as she hugged Beth back, "It's good to see you Beth, but we need to get going. Alex is talking to Gareth right now and we need to get to the armory, get her, and get the hell out of here."

Beth took a step back, "But we can't leave! They have everyone in a train car. We can't just leave them here," she said as she ran out the door. "Let's get to the armory. We're gonna need everything we can get."

"Well this kind of changes the plan." Adam said as Carol and him ran after Beth. "I'm not gonna be the one to explain to Alex though what happened to the fucking plan when we all get out of this mess."

-D/B-

Once Daryl got over the initial shock of the voice he focused on what the woman had said. The people at Terminus had Beth. He was beyond pissed. If they hurt her in any way they were going to have to deal with him…..well, deal with him as soon as he got the hell out of this train car. He stood up and started banging on the side of the car.

"Aww….Alex, don't be like that." Gareth said. "I think the name of your friend has drawn the attention of one of our friends in A." He looked over at one of the other Termities, " Bring me the Archer!"

Rick gave Daryl a look, Carl looked pissed off, and Michonne tried to reach for her sword before realizing that it was no longer in her possession.

Daryl prepared himself for what was coming next. Everyone else in the train car was just looking around trying to make sense of what was going on. Only Rick had any idea of what was really going on. He knew that if Beth was here it wasn't going to end well. There was a part of Daryl missing since they had joined back up and he had the feeling that the missing piece was Beth Greene. All he knew is that he'd back his brother up in whatever happened.

The door opened and two men appeared. One was armed and the other walked forward. "Archer move!"

Daryl started walking out of the train car and down the stairs. One of the Termites had a gun pointed at him as he walked toward where Gareth and Alex were.

"Welcome Archer," Gareth said. I see that the name of Alex's friend has gotten you a bit riled up, he said motioning to where the woman named Alex stood. "You see when our friend Derek arrived here at Terminus he told us a tale of how he'd gotten exiled from Alex's group", he said motioning over to her,  
"for kidnapping a pretty young blond girl from an old man with a crossbow."

The admission had Daryl seeing red.

"So when you showed up with a crossbow I began to wonder…..what are the odds?" Gareth said with a smile on his face. "So yes we did send a small group to collect said girl from Alex's group and we brought her back here. But she's just such a pretty thing that I don't know that we would be willing to give her back. I'm sure she could be very useful to our community here."

Daryl lunged forward, "You son of a bitch!" Two termites held him back as he tried to reach Gareth to he could rip him apart. He vaguely noticed that they had to restrain Alex also.

"Someone bring me the girl," Gareth instructed.

-D/B-

Beth, Adam, and Carol were in the armory trying to get as many weapons as possible. They had found a few duffle bags and were filling those as fast as they could. They didn't run into too many people. It seemed as though Alex's appearance had garnered the attention of almost the entire community.

Beth looked over at a table and saw Daryl's crossbow. She'd recognize it anywhere. Running over she moved to pick it up and noticed Michonne's katana also.

"We have to get going Beth," Adam said.

Beth looked over at him, "Do you remember what train car they're in?"

"Yeah, they're in 'A'. Once we grab them we're supposed to arm them and wait for your cue to rain bullets on these idiots."

Before anyone could say anything else there was a commotion outside the door to the armory. They could hear a couple of the residents talking.

"Have you seen the blond?"

"She's in the room."

"I just checked, she's gone. Gareth is looking for her and I don't want to be the one to tell him she's gone. He had special plans for her."

"Shit!" Beth whispered as she turned to Adam and Carol. "You guys have 5 minutes to get everyone out of the train car and into position. Then I'm gonna go out there and have a chat with Gareth."

"Damnit Beth. That's not the plan! Alex is going to be pissed if something happens to you," Adam quietly yelled. She knew that he was concerned for Alex and her safety. She often wondered just exactly how close Alex and Adam were.

"I know Adam, but this is my family also, I just can't leave them here to die."

He ran his hand over his face and let out a sigh, "I know, but when we get back home we're gonna sit down and have a serious fucking conversation about what a plan is and how one sticks to it. Let's go Carol." He said as the two of them ran out of the room, duffle bags in tow.

Beth took a few minutes once they left to figure out how in the hell she was going to play this. It could come down to her having to kill someone. She hoped it didn't, but she quickly prepared herself for the possibility. They were all her family and she was going to do anything to make sure they were all together again. After a few more minutes she made sure she had what she needed and she walked out to face her fate.

-D/B-

"You looking for me?"

Everyone turned toward the voice to see Beth with a katana across her back and a crossbow aimed right at Gareth's head.

"Well looky here," Gareth said. "The little blond girl thinks she's a little bad ass." He looked over at Daryl, "I think she's trying to imitate you."

Beth quickly looked over at Alex who was giving her a look that said she was pissed, but she was trying to figure out how exactly the plan had changed so she could help. Beth was avoiding looking towards him cause once she did she knew there would be no finishing what needed to be done.

'Hey Gareth!" Beth yelled and he turned towards her, "You underestimate just what I'm capable of…NOW!"

Gunshots immediately filled the air as Terminus people started falling to the ground. Beth tried to fire off a bolt, but Gareth was trying to duck for cover and she ended up hitting him with one in the side. Out of the shadows came the group from the train car along with Adam and Carol armed and firing upon the residents when necessary. Daryl, Beth, and Alex ducked for cover. Beth grabbed at the gun she had tucked in the back of her jeans and opened fire along with the rest of her family. As the gunshots started to subside the group started to make their way over to where Beth, Daryl, and Alex were, but Rick motioned for them to hang back for a moment.

Coming out of where they had been taking cover Daryl and Beth stood just staring at each other before Beth dropped the crossbow and the katana and took the few steps toward him, jumping up and wrapping her arms and legs around him. He caught her and held onto her so tightly he thought for sure he was hurting her.

"You all go with Adam." Alex yelled at the group. "Daryl, Beth, and I will make sure no one follows."

Beth and Daryl both froze as Alex spoke. Beth slid down out of Daryl's grasp and walked towards Alex, "Wait how did you know Daryl's name? No one ever…" and then everything clicked all at once. What drew her to Alex's girls. She'd seen their eyes before. She looked over at Daryl before glancing back at Alex, "Dria?"

Alex's eyes shot up to meet Beth's and then slowly shifted over to meet Daryl's. Beth looked between the two and could see the pain now showing in both their eyes and all of the things that needed to be said, but this just wasn't the time or the place to get all touchy feely about things.

Even though they were still in danger, time seemed to stand still for just a moment as everyone tried to figure out exactly what was going on. Suddenly the sound of a gunshot rang out. Everyone glanced around trying to figure out where it came from and what it hit. Daryl looked over at Beth to see her glancing downward as crimson started to stain her shirt over her midsection.

Beth quickly grabbed for where the blood continued to spread. She thought she heard possibly Maggie scream her name in the distance. She looked up at Daryl with a look that bordered between fear and being really pissed off, "Well shit," she said as she fell towards the ground with Daryl and Alex both diving to catch her before she hit the ground.

* * *

_A/N: *peers out from hiding spot* so…I feel bad about leaving you like this again, but plus side is Beth and Daryl are back together now…well kind of… Season 5 will be here soon. I'm trying to figure out how to write myself out of this corner. This was not what I had planned, but my characters had other ideas. Go figure….._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: So…I have no excuses for why it took me this long to update. The only reason I got this chapter up was because I sat and listened to Halestorm for a few hours. It is short, but I've left you hanging long enough._

_So I'm still torn about how the last chapter turned out. Thank you to those that reviewed. Even if you didn't like it I still appreciate the feedback._

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of it. Nada….Zilch….Zero…_

* * *

Daryl caught Beth before she could hit the ground and Alex was already lifting the shirt to try and figure out the severity of the damage.

"The bullet didn't go thru. It's still in there, "Alex said as she tried to put pressure on the wound.

"I'm gonna really have to listen next time when Adam says to stick to the plan," Beth said with a little laugh.

Daryl looked up and around to see where the bullet had come from. Looking next to a building he saw the man who called him the archer holding a gun and manically laughing. "There's no way you're gonna save your girlfriend now archer."

Daryl grabbed the gun that Beth had and quickly fired off a shot at Gareth. The shot hit Gareth's hand and he dropped the weapon and grasped his hand in agony. Daryl got up and slowly walked over to the so-called leader of Terminus and raised the weapon. "You fucked with the wrong family." Pulling the trigger and watching the bullet go between Gareth's eyes should have been more satisfying to him. But it just seemed like another body. Maybe he had become too accustomed to killing people in this world.

" We won't make it back to our compound in time to save her", Alex said. "We need to find somewhere here where I can get the bullet out."

"Are you kidding me we have to go!" Both Alex and Daryl looked over at Maggie. "All of this noise has probably attracted every walker for miles.

"Adam will take all of you back," Alex said. Her statement garnered a glare from Adam, but after a moment he nodded and stepped back. "There has to be somewhere here where I can get the bullet out."

"What makes you think that you can get the bullet out?" Maggie said a little standoffishly.

"Because before all this I was a Doctor. I specialized in General Surgery, but I also enjoyed family medicine."

Her response seemed to shut Maggie up for the time being.

"When we were running around saw something that could be an infirmary in that building," Carol said as she pointed to a few buildings down.

Daryl walked back over and quickly, but carefully picked Beth up and started towards the building that Carol had pointed out. Alex started after them but yelled back to the group, "Get out of here!"

The group was reluctant to go, but with the threat of hundreds of walkers invading they followed Adam.

-D/B-

"I've done the best I can do for now. The bullet is out and it really didn't do too much damage." Alex said as she was grabbing some extra supplies for the trip back. She paused and then started searching for bags to take the remaining supplies. "We're lucky it stayed in one piece. If it would have broken up we would have lost her."

Daryl looked down at the blonde girl unconscious on the table and then looked up, "Thanks Dria. Dunno what I would've done if I'd lost her again."

"I know how you hate to lose people Daryl," Alex said as she gave him a sympathetic look.

He gave her a nod, "I found a vehicle that still runs and has all its tires. Parked it on the north side. All the walkers are coming in the south side, but it won't be long fore they find their way around. We go now we can avoid most of them and should have enough to circle around a bit so we don't lead them all to your compound."

"Let's keep her on the table til we get to the vehicle. I don't want her to be moved any more than need be. She's gonna be pissed to be on bed rest for at least a week if not more when we get back." Alex said as she started grabbing all of the medicine off the shelves and shoving them in the bags she found. Medical supplies where hard to come by these days so meds, iv bags, needles, anything would be useful.

-D/B-

As they drove through the gates the rest of the group ran over to meet them.

"How is she?" Rick asked as he walked up to Daryl.

"Think she'll be okay. Was able to find some pain meds. Was able to get the bullet out. Gonna take her to Alex's so she can rest.

"Well I'm going with you," Maggie stated as she started to walk towards them.

Alex stepped forward, "I'm sorry but I really don't know any of you and until we have a chance to visit you will not be coming in my home around my family."

"But Daryl gets to go and you don't know him," Maggie said a little put out. A silence fell over the group as Daryl and Alex shared a look that was not missed by some.

"I'm sorry but that's my final answer," Alex said as she walked off and Daryl started to follow with Beth in his arms.

Maggie tried to follow and started to speak up, but was stopped by Glenn and Rick. She looked at them and they both just shook their heads and she reluctantly stayed back.

-D/B-

They walked in Alex's front door and Alex went upstairs as Daryl went down a set of stairs to where Alex had said Beth had been staying. Daryl placed Beth gently down on the bed and covered her with a nearby blanket. She stirred as he started to move towards the door. "You're going to stay right?" she asked groggily. The pain killers they had given her seemed to be taking affect.

He looked down at the blonde who had consumed his thoughts since the prison. He wanted to say no, that it wasn't necessary. But he learned after the moonshine shack that he'd never be able to deny this girl anything. "Yeah," he said and he knew that was the right response because as she opened her eyes and looked at him she smiled one of her melt the coldest heart smiles and he was lost. "I just have to go talk to Alex and then I'll be back."

"Don't know why I didn't see it sooner…..look just like you. The eyes…." Beth mumbled as she shut her eyes and rolled over and cuddled down into the blankets on the bed.

Daryl was confused as to what she was saying, but just chalked it up to pain meds. He walked back up the stairs to find Alex so they could talk about things. He looked around and she was nowhere to be seen. He heard the faint sound of what he thought was children crying and moved towards the noise. At the end of the hall he could see through an open door what looked like a child's room. As he walked towards the doorway he was able to hear the conversation.

"Now Beth is going to be okay. Mommy patched her up and is going to keep an eye on her for a few days, but she'll be okay."

"Was it the bad man who took her that hurt her?" one of the young voices asked.

"Yes it was, but Beth and Mommy's friends took care of him."

The girls looked up and Jessie asked "Who's that?" pointing at the doorway. Alex looked over her shoulder to see Daryl with a panicked look on his face and she could just guess the internal conversation and calculations he was having with himself right now.

"Go to bed girls. If you're really good and Beth is feeling up to it I'll take you both down to see her tomorrow evening." Immediately both girls laid down and shut their eyes.

Alex walked towards the door and motioned for Daryl to go back out in the hall. As she shut the door to the girls' room she turned to face a stormy faced man. "So I guess we need to talk."

* * *

_A/N: So yay Beth lived! Alex/Dria was a Doctor before the world went all crazy so of course she would know exactly how to help Beth. Her skills will also come in handy in later chapters._

_So this is of course a Bethyl story so don't worry I'm not going to have Daryl and Alex/Dria get back together. But there are some things that are going to need to be talked about. Beth will of course be there to help Daryl make sense of it all. I would guess that in the next chapter we will see Bethyl truly start to take shape. Sorry it seems to be taking so long to get there. My OC started to take over and I need to rein her in and get back to Bethyl. I might go back and one day write more of her and Daryl and everything she has been through since the Outbreak started, but I have other stories I need to finish first before I really even think about doing that._

_I can't make promises on updates. This year is going to be busy with work, traveling, and kids. But hopefully you guys will stick with me._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: Happy Valentine's Day and Walking Dead Mid-Season Premiere day! _

* * *

"What the hell Dria! I thought you were dead." Daryl yelled in a booming voice.

Alex got a look on her face that Daryl had never seen before "Shut the hell up so the girls can go to sleep," she hissed as she blew right past him down the hall towards the kitchen.

Daryl stormed after her, "I want a fucking explanation!

"Why don't you ask your brother…he was there!" Alex screamed at Daryl.

"Well I can't cause he's fucking dead!" he yelled back at her.

That seemed to make Alex hesitate to say anything else.

"What the fuck happened Dria…..Alex…whatever the hell you go by these days!" he yelled at her.

Alex was becoming furious, "Well let me tell you about that day…"

_***Flashback***_

Dria opened the door to a smiling Merle Dixon. "Hey Merle, come on in. Something must be going on out there. I haven't had a chance to find out what though cause I just got up from my nap." She gestured for Merle to come on in and she locked the door and started walking towards the kitchen.

"No problem little missy. Ole Merle just wanted to come check on his brother and his old lady, make sure everything was alright. Where is my brother by the way?" Merle asked as he followed.

"He's at work right now, but he should be home in a few hours." She said pulling a beer out of the fridge and handing it over to Merle as he took a seat at the kitchen island.

"Well don't mind me girly…I'm just gonna hang out here til he gets back."

"No problem Merle," Dria said turning towards the sink to take care of some dishes.

Merle looked around at the little cookie cutter life his brother had built for himself. Too bad Dixons didn't get to live like this. And with what was going on outside it was going to end real quick. But then his eyes stopped on a few pictures that were hanging on the fridge. He got up and walked over to them, "So you've convinced him the kid is his?"

Dria turned around "Of course it's his kid Merle. That second one is from my appointment earlier this morning. Daryl wasn't able to go cause none of those assholes at work would trade shifts."

"Why are there two in this second picture?" Merle asked already knowing the answer but hoping he was just seeing things.

"We're having twins. Twin girls. The second girl was hiding behind her sister during the first ultrasound so that's why we didn't know about her. I was going to tell Daryl when he got home, so you have to act surprised when he gets here and I tell him. I sure hope he gets home soon. Weird things are happening out there. The TV keeps talking about people getting sick," Dria continued to explain what she'd heard on the TV.

Merle was trying to do some quick thinking. He was here for his brother. Shit was hitting the fan out there and they needed to take off, but Daryl wasn't going to go anywhere without this girl. How the hell were they going to deal with her squeezing out two more humans before too long? He looked around and saw his answer. He picked up the frying pan that was sitting on the stove and quietly walked over to Dria still standing at the sink.

"I know that we always haven't seen eye to eye Merle, but you're Daryl's brother and you're going to be an Uncle….*thump* Dria fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Merle set the pan down and bent down to see his handiwork. "Well damn…..she's just out cold. Hopefully she stays out until I can get Daryl out of here." Just as he finished tying her up he could hear Daryl drive up. He stood up and looked back down at Dria who was starting to come to.

"What the hell Merle, you son of a bitch! When Daryl hears about this…." Dria didn't get to finish her sentence cause at that moment Merle delivered a downward punch to the side of her face that knocked her out cold once again.

"Sorry there sweet thang…..I don't normally hit women, but these were drastic measures." Merle quickly got up and ran out the front door to distract Daryl from coming in the house.

_***End Flashback***_

"Horse shit. Merle wouldn't have done that to you. He was blood. We take care of blood."

"I wasn't blood Daryl!" Alex yelled. "To your brother I would always be the girl you were fucking around with and knocked up. Those last few months before everything went to shit I was trying…..trying to get along with him when he'd come around. For you I tried. " she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "And look where trying got me."

Daryl took a step back and ran both hands over his face. As much as he wanted to he couldn't deny what she had just said. He looked back up at Alex, "How did you….when they were born…."

Alex put the poor man out of his misery and started to give him the answers he wanted. "When I finally came to the second time I had to get untied, which didn't take very long cause your brother sucks at trying knots. I didn't know where in the heck he'd gone, but I knew that you'd gone with him cause I'd heard you pull up, but you never came in the house. I couldn't stay there. I could hear the screams getting louder and people were starting to break into houses. I spent about 30 minutes loading up the SUV. My clothes, some of our pictures, a bunch of supplies for the babies, and all of the canned food. I was just happy I'd just filled up the vehicle before I came home. I knew I had to get out of town cause there were just too many people.

About two weeks after I left home I met Adam. I was trying to syphon gas from a vehicle and got trapped by about four walkers. He helped me out and we've been together ever since. Over time we joined some more people and when I had the girls he was there to help talk me thru the panic I had during the C-section. We had lucked out and found a small community hospital. I had talked Adam and a few of the woman thru what to do when the time came cause since we wouldn't have proper sedation they would have to just knock me out completely. He's protected us and been there for us. We found this place about six months ago."

"Do you love him" Daryl said before he could fully process what just came out of his mouth.

Alex smiled, "I do," she said. "Not like I loved you, but different." She paused a moment before throwing another thought out there, "They don't call him dad."

Daryl looked at her confused.

"What the girls' know about their father is that he got lost at the start of this whole mess and that hopefully one day he'll find his way back to them. Won't they be excited to find out that their daddy is the hunter,"

Daryl looked at her confused, "Who's the hunter?"

"Beth had started telling the girls stories about a man known as the hunter, who carried a crossbow and slayed slimy snails and fuzzy bears. I always asked her whether it was based on someone she knew…and now I know."

It was all just too much for Daryl. Dria, twin daughters…..and Beth.

"We can talk to the girls in the morning and tell them who you are if that's okay with you?" Daryl nodded his head in agreement. "I'm going to turn in," Alex turned to walk away, but then turned back towards Daryl. "I'm glad you found Beth. She's an amazing girl and you deserve to be happy."

"It's not like that," Daryl said shaking his head.

Alex sighed and shook her head slightly, "You look at her the same way you used to look at me. Take a chance. I think you'll be surprised with how things work out." And with that Alex walked away leaving Daryl trying to process what she had just said.

So much had happened over the last few hours. The betrayal he felt towards his brother tried to consume him. He thought about the fact that he'd been cheated out of time with his daughters. Cheated out of the family he'd been excited to have. However the recent events were starting to take their toll and he wanted to go check on Beth again before he turned in for the night. Finally after a few minutes Daryl headed back down to Beth's room. Opening the door he saw that she was peacefully sleeping. Unable to leave her alone after finally finding her he started to pull the chair in the corner closer to the bed.

"Daryl just take off your boots and vest and lay down on the bed," Beth said from the bed.

"Jesus Christ girl you scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry…didn't mean to. Lay down and get some sleep Daryl."

"Nah….this chair is….."

"Damnit Daryl just lay down or so help me….."

"When did you get to be so bossy Greene?" Daryl asked as he sat down and took his boots and then his vest off.

"I'm not bossy….I'm just strongly suggesting," she said looking up at him from the comfy pillow her head was currently resting on.

Daryl let out a laugh as he laid down on top of the covers. "Go to sleep Beth, you've been thru a lot and need the rest."

Not able to roll over Beth reached over and placed her hand in his, "I'm glad you found me Daryl. I missed you."

He briefly tensed up before relaxing and intertwining their fingers. "I missed you too Greene," he said as they both let sleep consume them.

* * *

_A/N: Well hell…..I did not expect to be away from writing for this long. So much has happened over the last year and work is still keeping me super busy. This is a very short chapter, but a chapter none the less. If anyone is still at all interested in reading this…..thank you so much. I'm going to slowly get back into writing this story. So please be patient with me._


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